If you already have pictures that you want to add within your slides, you can just
insert them
quite easily. However, many times we just have an idea of the type of picture we want to insert -- but
we still do not have the actual pictures! And that's when PowerPoint's Clip Art task pane can help
you -- not only does it allow you to search and insert pictures and illustrations, but it also
provides videos and sounds -- all of these can easily be inserted in your presentation. To learn more,
follow these steps:

Launch PowerPoint 2010. Most of the
time, PowerPoint already has a new slide --
change the layout
of this slide to Title and Content by selecting the Home tab
| Layout | Title and Content option. This results in the slide
layout you see in Figure 1.

Notice that this layout has a Content placeholder that lets you add bulleted text
or any of the 6 different content types in the slide -- these 6 content types are indicated by the 6
buttons located right in the center of the Content placeholder (see Figure 1). Click on the
Clip Art button in the Content placeholder, shown highlighted in
red within Figure 1.

Figure 1: Clip Art button within Content placeholder

Alternatively, if you want to add a picture on an existing slide that has no Content placeholder,
you can select the Insert tab of the
Ribbon, and click the
Clip Art button (highlighted in red within
Figure 2).

Figure 2: Clip Art button within the Insert tab

Note: The Clip Art button (highlighted in red
within Figure 2) is a toggle option. Click it once to summon the Clip Art
Task Pane (highlighted in red within Figure 3). Click again, and
it closes the same Task Pane.

Either way, you will summon the Clip Art Task Pane, as shown highlighted in
red within Figure 3.

Figure 3: Clip Art Task Pane

Within the Clip Art Task Pane, enter your search keyword(s) in the
Search for box (highlighted in red within
Figure 4). Then click the Go button (highlighted in
blue within Figure 4) to retrieve your search results,
as shown in Figure 4. Remember that you must be connected online for this to work!

Figure 4: Search results for the keyword entered within Search for box

You can also click the Results should be down-arrow, shown highlighted in
green within Figure 4, above. This brings up a
drop-down list, as shown in Figure 5. Here make sure All media types
check-box is selected.

Figure 5: Results should be drop-down list

Now, from the search results choose the picture you want to insert. To do so, hover you cursor
over your chosen picture to bring a Down Arrow button (shown highlighted in
red within Figure 6). Along with the Down Arrow
button, you also see a tool tip (shown highlighted in blue within
Figure 6) -- the details shown in this tool tip are explained in our
Understanding Clip Art Search Results in PowerPoint 2010 tutorial. For now, you can just click
this down arrow button.

Figure 6: Picture chosen within the Clip Art Task Pane

This will bring up the contextual menu that you see in Figure 7. Here select the
Insert option, as shown highlighted in red within
Figure 7.

Figure 7: Insert option

Alternatively, you can double click on your chosen picture or just drag and drop on your slide.
You can also click the Copy option, highlighted in blue
within Figure 7 to copy the picture to the clipboard -- and then press
Ctrl+V on the
Slide Area to insert the picture.

Have your ever used keyboard shortcuts and sequences in PowerPoint? Or are you a complete keyboard aficionado? Do you want to learn about some new shortcuts? Or do you want to know if your favorite keyboard shortcuts are documented?